Microsoft Pushes Desktop Data Analysis

Microsoft plans to ship a data analysis add-on to Office this fall based on technology acquired from a failed Israeli software company.

Microsoft Data Analyzer, built with data-visualization technology Microsoft had bought this year from Maximal Innovative Intelligence of Tel Aviv, Israel, aims to let general-purpose business users graphically interact with SQL Server 2000 data, and export results to Excel 2002 and PowerPoint 2002, according to people familiar with the package. A Microsoft product manager will only say the new software will ship as a stand-alone product and won't be bundled with Office XP.

Data Analyzer addresses the inability of Excel, the data-manipulation tool used by rank-and-file office workers, to create sets of dynamic charts that respond to changes graphically. Vendors including ProClarity, Cognos, and Business Objects sell high-end online analytical-processing tools for use by professional data analysts. But "you're seeing more and more people finding they want to go beneath the surface of a report," says Mike Schiff, an analyst at market researcher Current Analysis.

Others argue that data consumers within companies are better served by Web access to professionally written reports. "All the growth in business intelligence the past several years has come from Web-based analytics," says Clay Young, VP of marketing at ProClarity. But Microsoft makes money by licensing thick clients, not encouraging use of browser-based software, he says. "This whole approach by Microsoft is personal productivity--everybody goes out and analyzes their own data. It's not the reality of how large corporations work."